The Past Few Weeks...

Consider this a catch-up post. I really do always have the best intentions of keeping up with this blog but, as we all know, life has a way of taking over. We did have a wonderful time with my Dad visiting here for three weeks before we headed back north with him at the beginning of the month.

He especially enjoyed this copy of National Geographic from April 1928, his birth month and year; gifted to him by dear friends to commemorate his 97th birthday. He was able to happily experience spring returning to North Carolina and has definitely expanded the season this year by celebrating its return to New Hampshire currently. While he visited we all delighted in the abundant fresh strawberries appearing on stands from local farms, always a most welcome treat!

We dragged him around to local nurseries too, buying plants; as I was eager to pot up flowers and ready the porches for sitting outdoors. 

This is the side porch just outside of my sewing room. The perennial garden just beyond is filling in and producing lots of new, rich, color. I have transplanted some iris which was a huge success and set in more dahlias this year. I anchored one end of the garden with a Butterfly bush given to us in memory of my mother, it is already putting forth a huge amount of buds, can't wait for that one to burst into bloom!

This Kousa Dogwood in front of our house has never been prettier than it is this year... 

...and the Spirea (Bridal Wreath) hedge has certainly put on a show as well. 

(So does our canine model 😉, always photo-ready!)

I've managed to get this bitty little May Basket pin-keep stitched and finished in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of other stitching show-and-tell at the moment.  

This is a sneak-peek of a low-volume, strip-pieced, surprise in the making. 

What will it become? Any guesses? Expect a reveal soon! 

❓

In the meantime, we're receiving plenty of good soaking rain which will only benefit every single growing thing that I've spent the past few weeks tending to. I shall return, that's a promise; I need to report on what a wonderful Mother's Day weekend we had! 

Until then... 

Life is Good!

Wonderful World of Color*

It's a beautiful time of year right now, there's color everywhere. . .

and the quilt blocks under the needle in the sewing room are no exception! I'm still plugging away on the Barn Star Sampler, playing catch up for time missed.

I'm back at it again today, stitching blocks. It's hard, though, when I'm distracted by the wonderful world of color that surrounds me just outside the door. What distracts you?

As for Augie, he's enjoying the warmer days and time spent out on the porch.

We won't get into what distracts him: a leaf blowing by, a reflection in the window, 

a dog barking on television, a fly buzzing by, a stick on the ground... the list goes on! 😄

Life is Good!

*Being of a certain age, this phrase conjures up images of Tinkerbell 

flying over Cinderella's Castle and turning the black and white images

to technicolor on the Sunday evening broadcasts of Walt Disney's TV show.

I recall being ten years old or so and allowed to watch it at a friend's

 home down the street; she had a color TV! Such a sweet memory.

Simple Beauty

The simple beauty of an afternoon in June~

Life is Good!

It's March...

... and it's coming in like a lamb here today; what's the weather like where you are? Up at my Mom and Dad's in New Hampshire they're buried under snow with more forecast to fall on Saturday. My Dad loves it but my Mom has had enough already! Speaking of my parents, today is their 71st wedding anniversary! 

This picture was taken a while ago, but you can see how cute they are! Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

The rest of this post is going to be one of massive catch-up; there's a lot less time devoted here with a new puppy in the house, but I'm going to try to do better this month. I was lucky enough to go on a weekend retreat at this fabulous facility a few weeks ago. 

I got all of these string pieced blocks done while there and am auditioning inner borders, that's as far as I've gotten; this beauty remains on the design wall while other sewing is going on. 

I covered a kneeler cushion for church, there was a big strip of high density foam rubber to trim up for this job. 

As you can see, the hunk that fell on the floor, the excess, was immediately claimed! "What, for me? Oh, yes, I like it, it's very comfy!" He used it for a couple of days to rest on, I'll need to make a cover for this soon as he began a little nibbling of the corners and I've taken it up until I can get to that task. He'll be delighted to get it back. 

I've got five blocks done for the Cream and Sugar BOM, these measure 20" square.

I quilted up the above two quilts for friends, they were both great quilts to work on; bright and happy!

Again, that hunk o' foam was well loved during naptimes under the longarm while I worked.

Sometimes when I can't find Augie I catch him hiding right in the basket with his toys!

Yes, this catch-up post was one that's gone straight to the dogs! Augie is 21 weeks old today, he just completed a six week course on Puppy Manners and Socialization and will  start Beginner One Obedience Training in April; wish us luck!

 

Take time to smell the flowers today, wherever you are! 

I'll be back again soon. 

Life is Good!

Winter Stitching and other Happenings

I've been as busy in the sewing room this month as an active puppy will allow me to be! Never a dull moment around here. I've begun cutting out all the pieces for "Stars and Snowflakes" by Wendy Sheppard. 

The trial block is shown here, under construction. I hope to have this all cut and prepped to take along for stitching together at an upcoming weekend retreat. While preparing all the pieces for this one I managed to finally gather enough folded triangle leftovers to constitute a 9" block. I can't throw any of these triangles away, even the 1.5" itty-bitties! 

Yet one more block for the bulging, overflowing, orphan block bin. I need to get all of these blocks out and stitch them together soon! Something I keep telling myself. 

This donation quilt for a child received a mini Cloud Stipple quilting design to bring it to life. It's really sweet with the small character panels, and quilted up quickly; I really loved working on it. 

Augie has become quite the little sewing room companion. He sits in my chair with me whenever he can. 

He also has his bed and toys in here, which helps when I'm at the longarm! 

He's grown quite a bit in the past 6.5 weeks!

He thinks that his job is to prune all of our houseplants! The training is going okay; he's slowly learning. We didn't attend puppy class this past week due to a reported case of Giardia; I didn't think it was worth it to risk him being exposed, just in case. So, he's learning new things as a home schooler right now; first lesson: time out for tearing up plants! That's a tough one!

Speaking of plants; this beauty, an Amaryllis bulb Christmas gift, is putting on a show in the kitchen right now... 

... while these forced forsythia branches are brightening up the family room! A harbinger of things to come!

Our youngest grandchild finally had her "official" birthday celebration last week. 

They're all double-digits now. Sigh. I'd better hang on to our Augie baby as long as I can! 😉

Life is Good!

I Tried...

When Mason was born in 2008 a good friend told me not to blink. I tried. This happened anyway.

Yes, those are FOURTEEN candles! Sigh. 

I finished Bluebird Garden by Artful Offerings. I used the called for Weeks Dye Works floss colors and stitched it up on 30 ct. Belfast Linen (Mariners Map), two threads over two. The plan is for it to become a small pillow.

My friend and I attended our final Chrismon class at Rufty's in Salisbury this week, this is the Shield of Christ. As I mentioned in a former post, the physical store will be closing its doors later this summer,  becoming an online business only. Since May of 2021 we've diligently taken as many classes as we could in person, once a month. The last two months we've both been going to class and laying in supplies for future projects while we could. It was sad for us to leave the shop together for the last time.

I could use some help identifying this flower. This came in a package of mixed wildflower seeds (see here) and these now stand between 4' and 4.5' tall! They've attracted the goldfinch who balance, delicately on the slender stems. I've tried to get a photo of that, it's such a pretty sight, but so far no luck. I'd like to plant these again next summer if any of you could help me figure out what they are. 

And so... as this summer is rocketing by... 

I've tried to slow down time, 

but it marches on without regard; it's all good!

⚘

Life is Good!

Sowing Seeds of Love

This packet of wildflower seeds was a favor at a bridal shower for our Pastor's new bride at the end of April. Not knowing what the mix was I planted the seeds, crossed my fingers and waited. Today I'm happy to report that L💗VE is heavily budded and beginning to bloom!

I believe that every little seed is a miracle, a promise in a tiny shell.

Life is Good!